Masquerades
by Red Horseman
Summary: A small Valentine story with Asuka and Shinji.     Hopefully this time the formatting will be in place.


Masquerades  
  
Red Horseman  
  
* * * *  
  
"So are you going to explain your clothing, or am I supposed to just guess?"  
  
Shinji stopped his preparation of Asuka and his morning meal and turned around. He felt himself immediately fill with both dread and... desire at seeing her entering the kitchen. Dread because she had a look that no matter his explanation she wasn't going to be pleased. Desire from how beautiful he thought she looked even in her school uniform and how each day he found his attraction growing. In fact, he knew it wasn't just desire or attraction that he felt for the redhead, but love. Not wanting to go down that path so early in the morning, he plated up Asuka's breakfast and set it in front of her.  
  
"I'm not going to school today," he answered after joining her at the table.  
  
"And why the hell not!" Her cerulean eyes had turned into frozen agates while she scowled.  
  
Shinji looked down at his breakfast. "You know why."  
  
Asuka prepared to fire off a scathing retort, but stopped when she finally glanced at the calendar. Her anger turned to sympathy with a touch of disgust. She had made the amazing effort to understand Shinji, but he still infuriated her with things. Why he just didn't speak his mind instead of burying everything was still beyond her. Of course, she had firsthand knowledge of what happened when speaking before thinking. But still it would make things better if he just got it done and over with.  
  
"So you're going to make me suffer for your problems," she said quietly. "I just don't understand why you just don't..."  
  
"It's not that easy, Asuka," he interrupted. "You of all people should know that. And beside I don't want to hurt anyone anymore."  
  
"Better to lightly hurt them now then devastate them after they've come up with various scenarios," she retorted. Asuka quietly placed her fork down before shrugging her shoulders. "Oh well, it wasn't like today wasn't going to suck anyway."  
  
She felt proud for her reaction at his unexpected touch when he gently gripped her hand. She simply looked at Shinji with a small smile and the teenager rewarded her with a sad one. That caused the redhead to lift her hand slightly allowing their fingers to intertwine. They stayed like that silently waiting for the other to move or speak before Asuka looked at the clock. With a gasp, she knew she would be cutting it close in arriving at school. But when she tried to pull away, Shinji's grip tightened holding her in place.  
  
"I'll make it up to you."  
  
- - - -  
  
Stalking through the crowded hallways, Asuka hoped that someone would stop her just one more time to ask a favor. It would be the proper justification for her to let loose her famous temper on an unsuspecting student. She thought she would deserve the chance after the never-ending tortures she had been enduring for hours. She had always labeled all the students as idiots, but today they had sunk beyond that level. So it was with relief that she reached the schoolyard without incident and made her way to where Hikari was sitting. Of course, her mood plummeted when the other Stooges soon joined them and her friend gave Touji a lunch.  
  
"So Shinji decided not to come today?" Touji asked.  
  
Asuka closed her eyes, promising that she wouldn't hurt him. "I thought it was painfully obvious, idiot. You know with me arriving alone, and his desk being empty and all."  
  
"All right, you don't have to rub it in," Kensuke retorted. "I just don't understand Shinji and girls. You'd think he was an eunuch from the way he avoids them."  
  
Hikari raised an eyebrow when she saw Asuka's cheeks turn pink before the redhead's rage made an appearance. She sighed as the teenager repeatedly hit Kensuke on the head and turned her attention to her meal. But something grabbed Hikari's attention when Asuka knocked over her bag containing her lunch. Reaching over, she picked up the plain box and let her curiosity overrule her sense of decency.  
  
Asuka stopped her assault on Kensuke at hearing a loud gasp come from beside her. Turning her head, she saw Hikari turn white as she stared at a box in her hand. Pushing the boy away, she strode to where the brunette was sitting and grabbed the object. With a critical eye, she studied what had caused her friend so much shock.  
  
"What the hell is wrong with you two?" Touji inquired after seeing the redhead collapse to the ground. Both girls ignored him and he prepared to move toward Asuka. Only to stop when he saw tears on her cheeks.  
  
"Is she crying?"  
  
Asuka was oblivious to the boys' comments. "You idiot. You didn't have to..."  
  
"It's from Shinji?" Hikari asked finally.  
  
Touji, frustrated at what was happening, got to his feet and stalked over to the redhead and grabbed the box out of her hands. His mouth dropped open in absolute shock at what was resting in the opened oblong felt box. He had never looked at jewelry before in his life, but even he knew what he was holding was quality. The silver and sapphire bracelet must have cost a fortune and he carefully handed it back to Asuka, who closed the lid.  
  
"Yes, it's from Shinji," she whispered.  
  
"How do you know?" Hikari repeated. "It could be from any guy at school or Tokyo-3. They could've slipped it into your bag when you weren't looking."  
  
Asuka shook her head lifting the box so they could see the embossment on the lid. "He got it for me."  
  
"Aren't you reading a little much into this, Asuka?" Kensuke asked after studying the lid. "After all, it's only your name over the kanji for rainbow."  
  
"Haven't you ever played word games before?"  
  
"Nope."  
  
"Thought so. So stooge, where did we first meet?" Asuka smirked as the answer dawned on them. "We met on the aircraft carrier 'Over the Rainbow' and how many people besides Touji and you would know that fact?"  
  
"No one."  
  
"Exactly, and even if it seems like I'm reading too much into this somehow I know it's from him."  
  
The trio looked on in amazement at the happiness evident on Asuka's features as she carefully slid the box into a pocket. Yet as they watched a hint of sadness briefly darkened the girl's evident joy. But whatever had caused that melancholy disappeared when she brushed some hair out her face. Not even acknowledging her friend and the Stooges she pulled out her lunch and started eating. It was only after the silence stretched on for some time that she looked up.  
  
"What now!" she demanded from three.  
  
"Did you get something for him?"  
  
Again Asuka's cheeks turned pink. "Yeah, I have a present for him."  
  
- - - -  
  
"So what happened after you told them?"  
  
The two pilots were alone in the dim apartment stretched out on the sofa after dinner. Shinji had made good on his promise to repay Asuka for making her suffer by serving a lavish meal. And the redhead was filling him in on what happened during the day. She had felt his arms tighten around her when she told of the disappointment of the girls at his absence and how they wanted her to carry messages. But she had simply turned around in them and given him a soft loving kiss. After that she had told him about lunch and their friends reactions to her news.  
  
"Amazingly, they were pretty calm at hearing such sshocking news. Though Kensuke and Touji did go white, but I don't think it was for that," she told him.  
  
He saw her smirking. "So why did they go white?"  
  
"The three of them had made a bet," Asuka explained. "The losers had to buy dinner for the winner, and we know who the losers are."  
  
"And Hikari does have good taste in restaurants," Shinji mused. "Poor Touji and Kensuke, their bank accounts are going to be empty by the end of the night."  
  
"Yep."  
  
The two of them went silent deciding to listen to the soothing music filling the room instead of talking. Each teenager was lost in quiet thought, but for a variety of reasons. Of course, they'd both share what they were thinking sooner or later, but for the moment they were content to be silent. Shinji glanced down when Asuka curled up against him resting her head on his chest. Gently stroking her hair, he spotted the bracelet on her wrist.  
  
"So do you like it?" he whispered.  
  
"Of course, it's very beautiful."  
  
"It's not too gaudy, right."  
  
"No."  
  
Asuka lifted her arm up letting what little light was in the room make the sapphires sparkle. Despite her declaration at lunch that Shinji had given it to her she had been worried. There was always the chance that he hadn't gotten her the present, but someone else who had gotten lucky. But when she had finally walked through the door wearing it, he had smiled at seeing it on her wrist. That smile had wiped away all her worries about the day and present, but there was still something she needed to know.  
  
Turning back to the boy beneath her, she studied his face as they looked at one another. It was amazing just how cute he was and that he would be very handsome when he finished growing up. What was even more amazing was that he thought the same of her. She was aware of all the little glances and stares that he shot her way almost every day since she had come into his life. At first, it had been very unnerving to receive so much attention from the quiet teenager. But then she had found herself doing the same despite all her internal arguments.  
  
"Shinji, why did you get me this?" she quietly asked. "It's not that I don't like it, but..."  
  
Shinji slowly removed his finger from her lips. "I love you."  
  
Those three little words were enough to send Asuka's heart racing and make breathing difficult. In her entire life, she had never heard those words from anyone not even from her family. Boys had told her that they loved her when she had first arrived, but she had quickly seen through those lies. Yet as she gazed into Shinji's dark blue eyes she knew that his feelings matched his words. Crying, she buried her face in his chest and let her tears soak his shirt while he gently stroked her back.  
  
"I love you too," she sniffed. "God, do I love you. I just wish..."  
  
"Wish what?" Shinji asked nervously, getting a kiss for it.  
  
"That we'd said it sooner," she answered sadly.  
  
He nodded knowing what she meant. "I'm sorry."  
  
"Stop saying that! We're both to blame this time!" She angrily wiped at her tears yet her face suddenly became sad. "I wish Misato was around, she'd be so proud of us."  
  
Shinji stiffened under Asuka at the mention of their guardian, but he didn't let it get him down. It had been over two years since Third Impact and the failed Instrumentality attempt by SEELE and his father. And this was the first time that either of them had brought up Misato's name in a year. It wasn't because they didn't miss her presence or thought that she hated them for what happened. The truth was that they loved her immensely and didn't want to give up on the hope that one day she would return from the LCL sea. Of course, their lives had been extremely hectic since that tumultuous event and their waking up on the beach.  
  
"Oh, she'd be proud all right, but she'd also tease us until we wished for death," he told her while smiling. "Then she'd spread the news all across Tokyo-3."  
  
"There is that," Asuka admitted.  
  
"She'd also tease you about getting me a present," he continued.  
  
"Are you saying that you want another present besides what I've already given you?" The girl smiled at his blush.  
  
"Maybe."  
  
"Well-" She sat up pulling him along. "-I do have a present for you, but you'll have to wait because it's still being made."  
  
Shinji leaned and kissed her cheek. "Will I like it?"  
  
"I hope so. It's one of a kind. Something that no one else in the world could ever receive," she promised.  
  
"I can't wait."  
  
- - - -  
  
Asuka worriedly glanced at her reflection not missing a single detail. The only evidence of her wounding that showed were where her arm had been split and the vertical one over her eye. But those reminders of the past weren't what had the redhead's insides twisting and turning. Her anguish came from the appearance of her school uniform and what it signified. She knew that today was going to be one of those days that she would always remember, but she wasn't going to back away.  
  
She flinched when the door to the girl's restroom banged open and a couple of underclassmen entered. Asuka took a deep breath and knew that she couldn't delay the inevitable any longer. Slowly releasing that breath she exited, and found Shinji waiting outside with Hikari. Their presence wasn't unexpected, as they had been by her side since class had ended for lunch. The trip to the restroom was because of her taut nerves and she realized that it hadn't helped.  
  
Nodding to the pair, she resumed her course down the hallway leading to the administration area of the school. She swallowed when she reached the door before sliding it open and entering. The stares from the few teachers present were close to making her snap but then Hikari joined her in the room. The indifferent looks turned to curiosity when the trio started toward the principal's door in the corner.  
  
"Asuka, are you going to tell me what's going on," Hikari whispered when the reached the principal's secretary's desk.  
  
"You'll find out soon enough," the redhead answered. "Is Principal Torii in?"  
  
"Yes, but..."  
  
"I need to talk to him. It's very important," Asuka interrupted.  
  
The secretary sat there stunned at the brusqueness of the girl even though she knew of the redhead. Everyone in the school knew of German girl's temper and none wanted to be on the receiving. But this was the principal they were talking about, someone who was quite busy. But something about the girl's face told her that it wasn't a foolish request. She picked up the telephone and informed the man what the redhead had requested.  
  
"Principal Torii will see you, Miss Soryu."  
  
Shinji nervously followed the two girls into the office. The size of the room and how everything was organized amazed him. He shock grew when he saw vases with flowers and painting on the walls between shelves of books. Yet what surprised him the most were the three chairs arrayed before the massive wooden desk, and the man standing before it. Looking over, he saw Asuka take the man's hand before sitting down.  
  
"I must say that this is highly unusual, Miss Soryu," Torii said after they had seated themselves. "Most students only see me for disciplinary actions and not during lunch."  
  
"I know," Asuka softly answered. "This is important and I didn't know who to take this matter to."  
  
Hikari glanced over at Shinji to see the same shocked expression she knew was on her own face. This was the first time she had heard of something that Asuka didn't already have a solution to. And from his expression, the redhead hadn't told him anything about why she had to see the principal. The brunette turned her attention back to her friend in time to see her take a deep breath.  
  
"I can't dance around this issue so I'll be direct," she began, briefly looking at Shinji. "I'm dropping out of school, Principal Torii."  
  
"May I ask the reason behind your decision?" he asked after the shock had worn off. "You've been one of our best students since that Incident."  
  
"It's very personal, sir. I haven't even told my friends so I hope you'll wait for my letter." Asuka wiped at her eyes. "This'll be my last week."  
  
"Is there anything I do to change your mind?"  
  
"No, sir."  
  
- - - -  
  
Despite the urge to charge over to where her friend was standing, Hikari stood her place holding back Touji and Kensuke. She was still extremely shocked at hearing that Asuka was going to be dropping out of school and what was going on. Of course, the duo she was restraining had caughtt up to them just outside the administrators' wing somehow learning something was up. Yet the reason she wasn't demanding answers from Asuka was because of Shinji.  
  
Hikari had never seen him mad or lose his temper around Asuka or their friends, but that had changed. The look he had shot her after the shock and worry had disappeared had frozen her in place. He had simply held up a finger and gently guided Asuka to a secluded area of the schoolyard. Since then she had watched an amazing array of arm movements come from the boy and nothing from the redhead. Yet as she watched she saw his anger disappear replaced by shock again, and then he smiled.  
  
"What is going on?" Touji whispered at seeing Shinji pull Asuka into a hug before quickly releasing her. "I thought he was going to rip her to pieces."  
  
"She's dropping out of school," Hikari answered.  
  
"Well that doesn't look like the response I'd given at hearing that," Kensuke piped in when the couple sat down in each other's arms.  
  
The two boys quickly followed Hikari when she started stalking toward the pair. That she was pissed was evident by her tightly clenched fists and fast stride. Yet they were surprised when Asuka and Shinji simply looked up at their approach like they didn't have any worries in the world. The tearstains on both their faces only served to confuse the trio when they finally reached the two former pilots. Shinji looked up with the biggest smile they had ever seen while Asuka stared at the ground.  
  
"She's pregnant," Shinji happily told them.  
  
- - - -  
  
Not for the first time that day, Touji wished that Misato had survived Third Impact. It wasn't because he wanted to stare at her body, but because she could've supplied him with alcohol. Since learning that his best friend had been dating his mortal enemy and had gotten her pregnant he had wanted to get drunk. He was happy for the pair, but he just couldn't come out and admit it, especially after years of teasing. That was where the alcohol would've helped, he reasoned while he stood in the couple's apartment. He could've gotten drunk told them he was happy for them and blame it on the alcohol.  
  
"Just suck it up, Touji," Kensuke whispered. "Just go over there and tell them 'congratulations.'"  
  
"I didn't see you..."  
  
Kensuke smirked. "It's been five minutes since I told them. I haven't been off in my own world since lunch like you. Come on!"  
  
Pulled along by his friend, Touji walked across the room stopping only when they reached the couple. The two pilots had a combination of exhaustion and embarrassment on their faces when they looked up. The cause of their fatigue sat across from them trying to be both worried and excited. The teenager fidgeted under their gazes and found himself relaxing when Shinji grinned at his discomfort.  
  
"You don't have to say anything, Stooge," Asuka told him. "We know what you're going to say."  
  
Touji couldn't help but smile. "So this was the present you were talking about last month, Demon."  
  
"Yep, five and half months to go before you become an uncle."  
  
"What!" Touji collapsed to ground. "What are you talking about? We're not even related and I don't want..." He stopped when he realized everyone was laughing. "Funny. I'll get you for that at your wedding."  
  
"Are you sure you two are going to be okay?" Hikari asked getting back on track. "I know social services will provide some services, but what about the rest."  
  
"We'll be fine, Hikari," Asuka repeated for the tenth time. "The United Nations and Japanese government have provided us with an ample benefits package for our services."  
  
That had been the story the media had reported after the conclusions of various hearings and trials. Most questions had centered on the UN's upper echelon leaders quick acceptance of false information provided by SEELE about NERV. Hundreds of sudden resignations in a span of a couple weeks had turned the entire organization upside down. The Japanese government didn't escape the outrage from the world once information about their involvement had been released. So before their reputations could be further tarnished they had quietly approached the two pilots to begin negotiations.  
  
It actually had been simple for the parties to work out a mutual agreement. For the rest of their lives, the pilots would receive a large monthly stipend on the condition they remained silent about the attacks. Assurances had been made they would never be billed for any educational or medical expenses. That guarantee had also had been extended to any children they might have in the future. All in all, the United Nations and Japanese government had found the pilots' request suitable compared to what would've happened if the teens had decided to go public with their stories.  
  
"You sure it'll be okay?"  
  
"Hikari give it up!" Touji snapped. "They said they'll be fine, okay."  
  
"There is one thing," Asuka said. "I want all of you to visit from time to time, even you two Stooges. I'm going to be lonely not going to school and all."  
  
"Of course, we will!" Hikari replied smiling at the boys. "Besides I think we'll be doing quite a bit of shopping in the coming months for all three of you." She turned and smiled at Touji. "And I'm sure Touji will be delighted to accompany us. Won't you dear?"  
  
"I feel for you, Touji," Kensuke said, laughing at his friend's resigned expression.  
  
"The same goes for you, Mister Aida," Hikari finished. "You'll be joining us on a few of these trips. That way I can keep an eye on you so you don't go spreading rumors about Asuka and Shinji."  
  
"I don't think they'll able to keep it a secret if someone from school sees her on the street in a few months!" Kensuke fired back determined not be whipped.  
  
"Well, what about..."  
  
Shinji gripped Asuka's hand tighter while their friends argued about secrets and being forced to go shopping. He looked at her to see a tiny smile on her lips and her dancing with humor. The whole day had been one giant roller coaster from the get go and it wasn't even over. Yet he promised himself that no matter what happened he'd stay by Asuka's side forever. He blinked at the touch of her lips on his own as she kissed him with tears in her eyes.  
  
"Don't worry. Everything will be fine, Asuka." He gently wiped at her tears.  
  
She moved his hand to her stomach "I know that idiot."  
  
"I love you and will never leave you or our children."  
  
"I love you too."  
  
* * * *  
  
It's been a while since I did a story like this without long explanations or details. It's also different in that they slept together before they told each other they loved the other. Also gone is why they got together, mainly because if you've read my other stories you know my reasoning. If you're a new reader, sorry.  
  
Also I want to apologize for any errors I made since I didn't have my pre-readers look over this.  
  
Anyway, C&C welcome at eva_pilot9@doramail.com 


End file.
